Culture » February 14, 2003

Poets Against the War

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When First Lady Laura Bush decided to host a literary salon on February 12 about “Poetry and the American Voice,” she invited the nation’s leading poets to come to the White House for some elegant chit-chat on the works of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. The sleepy, grant-fed American poetry establishment, well-conditioned to sing for its supper and keep politics at arm’s length, rarely dares to court controversy—especially in Washington. But Mrs. Bush was in for rather a rude surprise.

When the respected editor and poet Sam Hamill opened his invitation to tea with Laura, he writes, “I was overcome by a kind of nausea. … Only the day before I had read a lengthy report on George Bush’s proposed ‘Shock and Awe’ attack on Iraq, calling for saturation bombing that would be like the firebombing of Dresden or Tokyo, killing countless innocent civilians. Nor has Bush ruled out the use of nuclear weapons.”

Hamill decided to make the First Lady’s “symposium” very special indeed. But when Mrs. Bush got wind of plans circulating among Hamill’s colleagues to bring antiwar poetry to the White House, she “postponed” the event, saying through her spokeswoman that it would be “inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum.” The date has not been rescheduled.

Nor is it ever likely to be, judging from the reaction Hamill has been getting since he launched a Web site, www.poetsagainstthewar.org, and declared February 12 a national day of poetry against the impending carnage in Iraq. The Web site quickly ballooned with more than 5,000 poems (and counting), and more than 160 readings were speedily scheduled across the country for the 12th. Hamill’s online chapbook features poetry by the likes of John Balaban, Gregory Orr, Rita Dove, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Adrienne Rich, as well as a statement by Pulitzer Prize winner W.S. Merwin, who angrily writes: “To arrange a war in order to be re-elected outdoes even the means employed in the last presidential election. Mr. Bush and his plans are a greater danger to the United States than Saddam Hussein.”

Other poets signing on to the antiwar movement include Stanley Kunitz, Marilyn Nelson, Jay Parini, Jamaica Kincaid, Grace Paley and even U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, a famously gentle ironist not generally known for making political stands. It’s one thing when such notably engaged writers as Rich or Ferlinghetti speak out, but when protest extends to the very mainstream of American poetry, we can assuredly say that the conscience of a nation has been pricked.

Hayden Carruth, Ursula K. Le Guin, Galway Kinnell and Lawrence Ferlinghetti are four American writers who have been in the vanguard of that conscience for decades. With thanks to Sam Hamill and Poets Against the War, we reprint their poems here as living examples of “Poetry and the American Voice.”

Complaint and Petition

Mr. President: On a clear cold
morning I address you from a remote
margin of your dominion in plain-
style Yankee quatrains because

I don’t know your exalted language
of power. I’m thankful for that. This
is a complaint and petition, sent
to you in the long-held right I claim

As a citizen. To recapitulate your
wrong-doings is unnecessary; the topic
is large and prominent and already
occupies the attention of historians

and political scholars, whose findings
will in the near future expose your
incontinent and maniacal ambition
for all to see. Let it suffice to

say that you have warped the law and
flouted the will and wisdom of the
people as no other has before you.
You have behaved precisely as a tin-pot

tyrant in any benighted, inglorious
corner of the earth. And now you are
deviously and corruptly manipulating
events in order to create war.

Let us speak plainly. You wish to
murder millions, as you yourself
have said, to appease your fury. We
oppose such an agenda—we, the people,

artists, artisans, builders, makers,
honest American men and women,
especially the poets, for whom I dare
to speak. We say, desist, resign,

hide yourself in your own shame,
lest otherwise the evil you have
loosed will destroy everything
and love will quit the world.

—Hayden Carruth

The Olive Wood Fire

When Fergus woke crying at night.
I would carry him from his crib
to the rocking chair and sit holding him
before the fire of thousand-year-old olive wood.
Sometimes, for reasons I never knew
and he has forgotten, even after his bottle the big tears
would keep on rolling down his big cheeks
—the left cheek always more brilliant than the right—
and we would sit, some nights for hours, rocking
in the light eking itself out of the ancient wood,
and hold each other against the darkness,
his close behind and far away in the future,
mine I imagined all around.
One such time, fallen half-asleep myself,
I thought I heard a scream
—a flier crying out in horror
as he dropped fire on he didn’t know what or whom,
or else a child thus set aflame—
and sat up alert. The olive wood fire
had burned low. In my arms lay Fergus,
fast asleep, left cheek glowing, God.

—Galway Kinnell

American Wars

Like the topaz in the toad’s head
the comfort in the terrible histories
was up front, easy to find:
Once upon a time in a kingdom far away.
Even to the dreadful now of news
we listened comforted
by far timezones, languages we didn’t speak,
the wide, forgetful oceans.
Today, no comfort but the jewel courage.
The war is ours, now, here, it is our republic
facing its own betraying terror.
And how we tell the story is forever after.

—Ursula K. Le Guin

Speak Out

And a vast paranoia sweeps across the land
And America turns the attack on its Twin Towers
Into the beginning of the Third World War
The war with the Third World

And the terrorists in Washington
Are drafting all the young men

And no one speaks

And they are rousting out
All the ones with turbans
And they are flushing out
All the strange immigrants

And they are shipping all the young men
To the killing fields again

And no one speaks

And when they come to round up
All the great writers and poets and painters
The National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency
Will not speak

While all the young men
Will be killing all the young men
In the killing fields again

So now is the time for you to speak
All you lovers of liberty
All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness
All you lovers and sleepers
Deep in your private dreams

Now is the time for you to speak
O silent majority
Before they come for you

—Lawrence Ferlinghetti

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I loved to see that 'the Americans' are not all war mongerers in the pursuit of money and power, although it seems like that from far away. It's great to see that there are people in the USA that can look further than their own borders and see what's going on in the world and that don't get led blindly by a man (and Government) that didn't even get half the votes of the Nation. Keep it up! Let people outside your country know that you are not all naive and into the eye for an eye.
Posted by Marian Staudt on 2003-03-07 16:56:53

Thank You! I need to know that someone else really gives a _____. I feel so isolated because most of my friends think that if they ignore BUSH he will just go away..NOT!
Bill TillerPosted by William Tiller on 2003-03-06 20:37:00

Just proves how ignorant you poets are. Millions more will be hurt if we do not take care of these terrrorists now. Why do want to wait for another 9-11? I am a mother of five and my husband is in the navy reserves waiting to be deployed. Do I want him to go? Of course not, but I can see that if we do not take care of this now, later might be too late!
Proud wife of a navy reservist!Posted by maria on 2003-03-06 12:17:44

This is not about America "terrorizing" and murdering anyone. This is about America protecting itself. This is like when some thief is coming through your bedroom window that has a gun or knife. Or you don't know if he has a gun or knife because it is too dark. All you know is that you are in danger, and you have to protect yourself. You grab a gun, a broom, a ballbat, or something to defend yourself. You do what you have to to protect yourself and your family. That is what America has to do. We didn't ask to be in danger. We didn't ask for September 11th, 2001. We didn't ask for war. But we have to protect ourself. Just like when a thief is coming through the window.Posted by Stacey on 2003-02-26 10:14:47

Can you email me a copy of the poem Arthur Miller read on CNN? I have searched everywhere and can not find it. It was great. ThanksPosted by Rebekah Dambola on 2003-02-19 21:09:36

Can poets' words prevail ? Not merely against armadas of tanks, helicopters, bombers and missiles -- for here precedents exist for the power of words Posted by M. Henri Day on 2003-02-19 00:54:30

Sadly wonderfulPosted by Ted Petrocci on 2003-02-18 20:39:34

On Sat., Feb. 15, in New York City, my 16-year-old daughter and I followed for a long time a lady with a colorful sign. The sign read "Poets for Peace," but that isn't why we followed it. The sign was big and it was colorful and beautifully made. It had balloons and bells attached to it. I was afraid I would loose my daughter in the crush of human bodies. I had read about the poets who had NOT, after all, shared their art with Laura Bush on Feb. 12, and I suppose I was feeling well-disposed toward poets in general. But mostly I liked the sign. Finally the police pulled aside the carrier of the sign to search her satchel, and she did not reappear, and did not and did not. Someone else took up the sign, but the poets waited for their missing member and my daughter and I carried on toward the rally on First Avenue. We had our own signs, though they weren't beautiful. Because of them we were able to continually find each other, despite the crush on First Avenue, and despite the crush in which we found ourselves, later, at 53rd and Third. Thank you for your column. Thank you for sharing a few poems. I have looked at a dozen or so of the 5000 poems at poetsagainstthewar.org. I wish I had a few years to read them all. Esther L. Clarke, [email]lores@epix.net[/email]Posted by Esther Clarke on 2003-02-18 15:55:41

My response: [url=http://www.fglaysher.com/NYTpr.htm]http://www.fglaysher.com/NYTpr.htm[/url]
In predictable fashion The New York Times Book Review and much
of the media have chosen to support the more radical and supposedly
"enlightened" viewpoint on the tiff with The White House and Laura Bush.
A more misguided and wrong-headed response could
not exist. It's so fraught with cliches I hardly know where to start.
In general, it's a pity that Sam Hamill, and others who think like
him, demonstrate once again that poetry, as defined by them
at least, indeed doesn't matter, so complete is their inability
to think seriously about the threat represented by Saddam Hussein
and his weapons of mass destruction. Their ridiculous pose of mounting
the barricades is really quite contemptible. It is clear that the crowd
alluded to by Mr. Hamill summons poetry to their own radical
distortions and agendas, achieving only a further marginalization
of an art that has all too often, among some, lost allegiance to
the civilizing values of peace, which require defense never more so
than now.
Far from "the conscience of our culture," such poets have
no sense of history and the deep obligations of our country, to
ourselves and to the world, which the burden of power lays
upon us at this juncture. President Bush is right to call the United
Nations to live up to its founding Charter, to be a common refuge
of defense, "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,"
not merely consultation, reduced to babel. At this time of national
and international crisis, poets who betray their nation, art, and
humanity merit no audience at The White House.
For a different view of the issues involved, I invite your readers
to consider my essay "The Victory of World Governance":
[url=http://www.fglaysher.com/WorldGov.htm]http://www.fglaysher.com/WorldGov.htm[/url]
Frederick Glaysher
[url=http://www.fglaysher.com]www.fglaysher.com[/url]
Earthrise Press
P. O. Box 81842
Rochester, MI 48308-1842 USA
Posted by Frederick Glaysher on 2003-02-18 11:57:29

thank you for your work and for this featurePosted by allison hedge coke on 2003-02-17 09:00:26

Again the bard is oracle and spokeman;this time in a democracy which choses to silence its peoplePosted by leQuita Vance-Watkins on 2003-02-17 05:49:12

It's good to have words
of distrust come from the pens
of seekers of truth
and beauty
its hard to turn towards that which
frightens, easier to rush headlong
into that which comforts and warms and heals. Poets and readers all
must fight this nemesis
of reason in any way we can.Posted by Jeffrey Richardson on 2003-02-16 21:52:45

An excellent story. Keep it up, and I might even subscribe!
Like many other poets, I submitted two poems within days of learning of the site, read one of them on The Day, and joined the Peace Rally and march on the 15th.
Thank you for including four of the many excellent poems presented to Sam Hamill's web site.Posted by Robert B Godwin on 2003-02-16 19:26:45

this is a wonderful thing Sam Hamill has done, creating this website, uniting the voices of poets to speak against the insanity of this impending war. i don't know, at this point, what, if anything, can stop it, unfortunately, but i'm hoping that the huge turn out for demonstrations against the war all over the world on the 15th, along with efforts like this, will have some impact. i was proud to add my voice to the site. here's one of the pieces i posted there.
-------------------
a state of confusion abounds
a state of confusion surrounds
there are sounds of the sighs of surrender,
the american people lying down, giving
away rights without an eye blink,
relenquishing their right to think
for themselves, watching unconstitutional
power persist, allowing themselves to be
convinced there is an evil element,
an evil contingent, marketing madness
on cbs news, nbc's filming fat teenagers
standing in bread lines
just to convince us
just to convince us
there are madmen out there
there are madmen out there
and they are here, right here,
plotting a scheme to control territory,
backed by weapons of mass destruction
why is it, america? why?
tell me why you are the world police?
tell me why you can decide who must disarm?
tell me with the charm of a saint who never erred.
tell me why you dare to occupy land which you don't own?
tell me, who put you on the throne?
who made you omnipotent?
there is imperialistic greed.
and my seed of doubt is growing leaves.
what happened to laissez faire?
what happened to respect and tolerance?
why doesn't america demand
america to disarm?
there is a state of confusion.
there is a state of confusion.
blind people lying down dead
not able to raise their head
to speak out.
stand up and shout, people with minds!
this is the time for it, this is the time.
if you don't stand up this time,
you may never be able to rise
again. you may never be able
to rise again, you may never
be able to rise.
-doreen peri
Posted by doreen peri on 2003-02-16 16:08:39

Duct Tape
This is all about
Duct Tape.
There is an international cartel
That makes Duct Tape.
They are linked to the oil industry
And use polylmers to make their vile product.
Then they hire governments to market the fear
Military hypocondria
But itPosted by Lightning Rod on 2003-02-16 14:05:19

So it is concluded:
Rough-fronted war mounts his barbed steed and awaits his orders
From one more terrible than Richard III.
Bush will be the bristled swine
That will eat Iraqi children
And plunge us once again
Into a hundred years' war.Posted by Charles M. Ashley on 2003-02-15 23:21:54